But does the child lose anything from playing it too safe? Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is a professor of psychology at Temple University, and she says, sometimes, yes.

KATHY HIRSH-PASEK: Look, I don’t mind changing from wood to plastic, but I do think that we have to let kids climb a little bit higher because we learn a tremendous amount from getting that skinned knee. And we become successes not just by succeeding but sometimes by failing.

SHEIR: What about those who say that our children’s safety is the most important thing, as in, you know, sometimes it’s more than a skinned knee or a bruised elbow.

HIRSH-PASEK: Well, I think throughout time, we’ve had to be very careful that children didn’t touch hot stoves and that they don’t pretend to be Superman and jump off roofs. And we have to parent here and regulate that they don’t do those things because they really aren’t safe.